The Bush-Cheney Economic Legacy

An interesting post from ThinkProgress’s Faiz Shakir on some financial numbers from the Bush-Cheney era. Cheney in his fear-mongering appearance on CNN’s State of the Union this morning defended why people should listen to him about the economy despite these little chestnuts:

Unemployment rate: Rose from 4.2 percent to 7.6 percentPoverty: Jumped from 32.9 million individuals to 37.3 millionUninsured: Escalated from 41.2 million individuals to 45.7 millionBudget deficit: Inherited budget surplus of $128 billion and left office with $1.3 trillion deficit

Cheney gave one simple reason for why the country went south over the eight years he and George W. Bush ruined the country: 9/11.

I mean, we all know freedom isn’t free, but who knew it was so costly that it would nearly double unemployment, increase poverty by 13 percent, increase the ranks of the uninsured by another 10 percent and run a $1.428 trillion cash swing into the red.